Partners In Health

Better medical care where it’s needed most. Globally.

Partners In Health have a mission: to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need, and to serve as an antidote to despair. Founded in 1987, they deliver quality healthcare to the poor residents of Haiti's mountainous Central Plateau region.

Seeking to further improve levels of patient care, Partners In Health wanted to develop a new Electronic Medical Record system (EMR) to implement in the University Hospital.

Using OpenMRS – free to use software – ThoughtWorks helped them develop a world-class system, increasing hospital efficiencies, and ultimately delivering a better level of service to patients.

“The interface is so simple that you don't really need to show people how to do things, only what's available to do.”

- Renee Orser, PIH Business Analyst

The new EMR performs key hospital functions, including patient registration, check-in, and reporting. It also stores and manages patient records including diagnoses, radiology orders and vital signs. The system is set to help more than a hundred users for a population of over 3 million patients from Central and North areas of Haiti.

User experience research guided the interface design, with robust user testing ensuring the entire EMR system is quick and easy for medical staff to use, which is critical for real-time data entry during patient care. Time-consuming paperwork was one of the biggest challenges the staff faced and improving records means saving lives – one patient at a time.